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October 31, 2009 - Dharamshala
His Holiness Karmapa led a mass prayer service at the Tsuglagkhang, in Dharamsala. Hundreds of Tibetan exiles, including Buddhist monks and nuns, gathered at the main Tibetan temple for a three-day prayer service to mourn the Tibetans who were recently executed. The memorial service is being organised by ten Tibetan organisations based in Dharamsala.

October 26, 2009 - Dharamsala
His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa inaugurated a new detailed six-volume biography of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. It was an elaborate book launch held at the Norbulingka Tibetan Cultural Institute, located near Dharamsala. This morning, the Norbulingka Institute launched the book.
His Holiness Dalai Lama, the newly enthroned 102nd Gaden Tripa Thubten Nyima Lungtok Tenzin Norbu, the 33rd Menri Trizin Lungtok Tenpai Nyima, and senior leaders of the Tibetan Government, including the Prime Minister Samdhong Rinpoche, took part in the ceremonial function.
In addition, His Holiness Dalai Lama expressed “deep sadness” over the fate of the four Tibetans and offered prayers for those people who were killed in Tibet, Xinjiang (East Turkestan) and those killed and injured in Sunday’s twin bomb blasts in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad.
“So since we are gathered here in large numbers today, let’s take this opportunity to offer prayers for them,” His Holiness Dalai Lama t…

October 24, 2009 - Dharamsala
On October 24th, the International Day of Climate Action, His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa said that there are many ways for us to be kind and generous towards others.
“We as Buddhists believe that benefiting others is an act of kindness, and the first thing that comes to our mind, as act of kindness, is giving alms to the poor. That’s not the only way, there are many ways to be kind. Taking care of the environment and nature is also a very important act of kindness that can benefit many humans and animals alike in the future.”
His Holiness was speaking at a modest gathering at the McLeod Ganj Day School on the International Day of Climate Action - a special day that is being observed throughout the whole world. His Holiness inaugurated a signature drive on climate action by signing his signature on a giant piece of cloth.
His Holiness took the audience by surprise when he shifted his role from that of "chief guest" to that of "resource perso…

October 23, 2009 - TCV School, Dharamsala
His Holiness Gyalwang Karmapa was requested to grace the 49th founding anniversary ceremony, as the chief guest, of the Tibetan Children's Village School.
School children eagerly awaiting His Holiness' arrival, just to catch a glimpse of him.
The school band played a welcome tune when His Holiness' car arrived at the main grounds. All the school's heads, including Jetsun Pema La (His Holiness Dalai Lama's Sister), offered khatas to His Holines upon his arrival.
The Ministers and Members of Parliament of Tibetan Government in Exile attended the anniversary ceremony.
After His Holiness' reception, the program began with a welcoming speech by the school's president.
His Holiness gave an address to the public concerning the education of the children. His Holiness also visited the school's museum after lunch and concluded the day's program.

The life story of the Sixteenth Karmapa is told by those close to him in Tibet, the generation of teachers that he trained and many others that he touched. This feature-length film looks closely at enlightened qualities and examines them in the context of historical events such as the fall of Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism's migration to the West. How Karmapa lived and how he died gives us the example of an awakened being: a person with a noble heart. The DVD includes two hours of Extras material: 1. Interview with a Buddha: Karmapa XVI, Jamgon Kongtrul and Karmapa's retunie appeared on a half hour talk show. The entire program is the extra. 2. The Ceremony of the Vajra Crown: In 1980, a director who would later be nominated for an Oscar filmed the Black Crown ceremony in beautiful 16mm color. 3. The Line of Karmapas: Thrangu Rinpoche, senior teacher of the Karma Kagyu lineage, eminent scholar Gene Smith, and Beru Khyentse Rinpoche share thoughts on the previous 15 incarnations of Karm…

October 11th, 2009 - Dharamsala
Second day of the 25th founding anniversary of Lower Tibetan Children Village School, His Holiness was invited as the Chief Guest of the program.
The highlight of the second days program was the inter school 8th grade dialectic contest, where students debate on Buddhist philosophy in monastic style of debate. His Holiness presided over the contest and remarked this as a new way of learning the essence of Buddhism and school is actually putting in practice what His Holiness Dalai Lama has urged.
Later His Holiness inaugurated the student's art exhibition and concluded the program.

Conference on Environmental Protection
His Holiness thanked everybody who had been involved in the conference, particularly Dekil Chungyalpa, without whom the conference would not have been possible, and congratulated the monasteries for participating in this second conference.
He said how much he appreciated their efforts but the motivation was important. Working for environmental protection should not be just to please him nor out of competitiveness with other monasteries, but should be done wholeheartedly with the motivation that environmental protection is benefiting all sentient beings. They should hold this aspiration.
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Then Gyalwang Karmapa shared his own aspiration ─ that if he had the power he would become the protector of the earth and cover it like a tent.
The final event of the conference was a performance by monks and laypeople from Tsurphu Labrang of Gyalwang Karmapa's poem Aspiration for the World, first in Tibetan and then in English. Aspiration for the…

Conference on Environmental Protection – Day 6 – October 8, 2009 – DharamsalaDekil began with an account of climate change because of global warming, which has led to increased rainfall in some areas and drought in others, glaciers in the Himalaya were shrinking, sea levels were rising, extreme weather events were increasing. In severely affected areas, the population was forced to relocate leading to social unrest. The long-term consequences would be on power and water supplies. Dekil then gave detailed instructions on rain water harvesting , how monasteries could collect rainwater from the rooftops, filter it and store it in tanks. Environmental Destruction in Tibet Tsering Yangkyi from TESI Environmental Awareness Movement gave a detailed presentation on what is happening in Tibet including deforestation and the effects of large-scale mining for minerals. The Effects of Climate Change on Tibet Chokyi, from the Environment and Development desk of the DIIR, showed slides illustrating h…

Conference on Environmental Protection – Day 5 – October 7, 2009 – DharamsalaQuestion and Answer Session Dekil Chungyalpa answered questions arising from Tuesday’s sessions on wildlife protection. Some key points that emerged: The monastic community has a responsibility to lead and give advice on environmental issues.Protecting the environment also protects wildlife – they are not separate activities.The monks and nuns wanted to know more about how they themselves could protect wildlife. Tenzin Norsang suggested 3 things were necessary: Awareness, Acceptance and Action. The monks and nuns had already developed awareness and acceptance. Action required a strategy and planning, taking the available budget into account, or special circumstances, for example 2010 will be the Chinese Year of the Tiger, so it might be appropriate to specifically target that year for tiger protection activities. The aim should be to start small and expand influence outwards. Having considered the local situatio…

Conference on Environmental Protection – Day 4 – October 6, 2009 – DharamsalaThe morning began with a question and answer session. Waste Management The main topic for the morning was waste management. Dr Anjan Kumar Kalia (Him Renewable Energy Consultants) gave a clear and comprehensive presentation on waste management. He first explained the different types of waste and highlighted that although waste could be a problem it was also a wealth. His then focused on vermi-composting which used kitchen waste, and bio-gas, which is produced from animal and human waste. The session concluded with questions from the audience. The overall theme for the afternoon was Wildlife ProtectionThe Science of Conservation Dekil Chungyalpa began the session and talked about bio-diversity, and Gyalwang Karmapa translated into Tibetan. She explained how the term biodiversity refers to species, gene pool, ecosystem and ecological processes. Human activity has had a devastating effect. Scientific evidence s…

Environmental Conference Day Three: Monday 5th October, 2009Forest Conservation Sanjeep Pradhan, from World Wildlife Fund India, gave a lively presentation on forestry conservation. He began by explaining the importance of forests and plants and the critical role they play in supporting not just human life but a vast biodiversity and controlling levels of carbon dioxide and oxygen. However, forests were under threat and already rising temperatures globally showed the devastating effect of this. Rising temperatures meant glaciers – an important source of drinking water -were melting and disappearing, whereas on the plains there were floods. Weather systems had become unpredictable, so whereas some places suffered from hurricanes, others had drought, which led to famine. The responsibilty to protect the environment lay with everyone; be pro-active: plant treesuse renewable energy such as bio gasencourage apiculture (bees)start vermi-composting (using worms)reduce, re-use and recycleSanjeep …

Environmental Conference Day Two: Sunday 4th October, 2009The Morning SessionGyalwang Karmapa on the Universe, Ecology and Buddhism Many of the monastic representatives have not had the chance to study modern science so Gyalwang Karmapa began by giving a slide-show presentation of scientific cosmology in which he demonstrated the vastness of the universe and the minuteness of earth and the solar system within it.

Using earth as his starting point, he illustrated its position as the very small planet, third from the sun, comparing its size with Jupiter (1114 times bigger) and the sun (900 times bigger than Jupiter). From that he moved to the solar system’s place in the Milky Way galaxy, explaining the need to use light years to measure vast distances, and, then, finally, he described the universe, and demonstrated how even something as vast as our galaxy (100, 000 light years across) was minute when compared with the universe itself. By this stage everyone was staggering at the imposs…